Automatic coin feed device for money counting machines



E. REIS May 14, 1957 AUTOMATIC COIN FEED DEVICE FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES 2 Shee ts-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. '7, 195g ill'nm i V May 14, 1957 E. REIS 2,792,100

AUTOMATIC COIN FEED DEVICE FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES Filed Feb. 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 AUTOMATIC'COIN FEED DEVICE. FOR MONEY COUNTING MACHINES Eugen Reis, Bruchsal, Germany ApplicationFebruary 7, 1952, Serial No. 276,458

Claims priority, application Germany April 28, 1951 1 Claim. (Cl; 198-54) Thsinvention relates to a device for money counting machines, which transports the coins or tokens to be counted to the coin plate automatically, lying fiat and in the requisite quantity.

In the known money counting machines the coins to be counted are poured on to a coin table disposed above the coin plate and are fed with the hands to the coin plate, where they travel through between the coin plate and a glass plate to the counting mechanism. This manual feed of the coins is not only unhy'genic, but requires the exercise of a certain amount of skill on the part of the attendant money counter, as the coins must not be fed forward in a heaped state and lying one on the other, but lying flat and also in the correct quantity. When too many coins are fed forward, jamming will occur in the coin shute and, when too few coins are fed forward, the capacity of the machine is only partially utilised.

The coin feed arrangement according to the invention in money counting machines overcomes these very disturbing disadvantages through the expedient, that under a feed hopper there is guided on an inclined bed a conveyor belt which conveys the coins to the coin guiding plate. Above the belt is mounted a brush roller or rubber roller, the distance of which from the belt can be regulated and which sweeps ofi coins lying over one another, so that they are passed along in a single layer only. In addition to this the width of the outlet of the feed hopper is adjustable, in order to make allowance for the size of the coins.

A constructional example of the invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the conveying device,

Fig. 2 a side view of the disconnectable conveying roller,

Fig. 3 a view from above of the conveying device and Fig. 4 a view from above of the coin hopper.

In a machine frame 1 are fixed to the distance rods 2 and 3 two side Walls 4 and 5 (Fig. 3), in which are rotatably supported two conveying rollers 6 and 7 (Fig. 1) and a number of smaller rollers 8a to 8d. The bearings 9' of the conveying roller 7 are displaceable in slots 9 and are acted on by tension springs 10, so that the endless conveyor belt 11 which is laid round the two conveying rollers 6 and 7 is always drawn tight. In the two side walls 4 and 5 there is also rotatably supported a shaft 12, to the ends of which are fixed two levers 13a and 13b, in which is supported a shaft 15 with a brush or rubber roller 14. To the shaft 15 is fixed a belt pulley 16 which is driven through a belt 17 by the motor 18.

In the side wall 5 is a slot 20, in which the shaft 15 can rock, and a lug 21, in a threaded hole of which a knurled screw 22 can be screwed up and down. A tension spring 19 which is fixed to the lever 13a and the side wall 4 draws the lever 1311 against the knurled screw 22. On the axle 6. of the conveying roller 6 is fixed a pin 28 (Figs. 2 and 3) and a compression spring 27 nited States Patent and a belt pulley 24 with a groove 25 and twopins 26a and 26b. To the side wall 4 is fixed a bracket 29, to which is attached a lever 30 with a pin 31 and a handle 32'. The pin 31 engages in the groove 25. The handle 32 is held by an arresting spring 33 fixed to the side wall 4.

To the machine frame 1 and to the side walls 4 and 5 is fixed a hopper 34, the walls 34a to 34c of which extend in the form of a funnel at an inclination downwards to the conveyor belt 11 which forms the bottom. Opposite the wall 34b the coin hopper is bounded by a vertical partition 36, to which an index 42 is fixed. The partition 36 is connected rigidly by two guiding pins 37 and 38 wth a rail 39 provided in the middle. with a threaded hole and is slidably supported by the two guiding pins 37 and 38 in the side wall 5. There is also rotatable in the side wall 5 and in the machine frame 1 a threaded pin 40 with a head 41. The threaded pin 40 passes through the threaded hole of the rail 39, so that by turning the head 41 the rail 39 and the partition 36 rigidly fixed to the guiding pins 37 and 38 can be displaced parallel to themselves.

The mechanism operates in the following manner:

The coins are poured into the coin hopper 34, the bottom of which is formed by the conveyor belt 11 which conveys the coins to the coin guiding plate 42' with the glass cover plate 43. As the coins are conveyed along in heaps by the conveyer belt 11, although the conveyer belt has an upward inclination of about 25, the roller 14 turns oppositely to the direction of travel of the conveyer belt, thereby sweeping away coins lying on one another and holding them back, so that only one layer of coins is conveyed along by the conveyer belt and fed to the coin plate 42'. As the various sorts of coins are also of different thickness, the passage between the conveyer belt 11 and the stripping roller 14 consisting of a brush or rubber roller must be regulable. Regulation is effected by the milled screw 22. On the latter being turned inwards, the bearing lever 13 of the roller 14 will be forced downwards in opposition to the tension of the spring 19, so that the distance between the conveyer belt and the roller 14 will become smaller. The passage can thus be adjusted with very great accuracy.

According to the size of the coins to be counted the conveyer belt must, in order to convey the correct quantity, travel either more quickly or more slowly or have a wider or narrower etfective surface. It is therefore necessary to make either the travelling speed or the operative width of the belt regulable. The former is effected by the provision of the known regulating drives. As this would render the machine more complicated and increase its cost, the invention preferably uses a regulation of the working surface of the conveyer belt through displacing the partition 36.

By turning the knob 41 the rail 39 is displaced and with it the partition 36 connected rigidly with it by the two guiding pins 37 and 33 and provided with the index 42. On the scale 35a can be read ofi, whether the working width of the conveyor belt is adjusted for small, medium-sized or large coins.

Should any jamming occur under the glass plate 43, for instance for the reason that a deformed coin is blocking the shute, the conveyor belt can be put out of action by pushing the lever 30 with its pin 31 to the right, where the stop spring 33 will hold it in its position. The pin which engages in the groove 25 of the belt pulley 24 will thereby push the belt pulley 24 to the right as well in opposition to the compression spring 27, so that the driving pins 26a and 26b in the side wall of the belt pulley will no longer be in contact with the pin 28 fixed in the axle of the conveying roller 6, so that the conveying roller 6 will no longer be carried round by the belt pulley 24.

I claim:

An automatic coin feed device for money counting machines, comprising a frame, a guide plate, an inclined conveyor belt arranged in the frame for conveying the coins to the guide plate, means for stretching the belt, supporting rolls beneath said belt, a brushing roller arranged above said conveyor belt, a driving motor, means for operatively connecting the roller to the motor for 10 driving said roller and for adjusting its distance from the belt, a feed hopper arranged at one side and above said conveyor belt on the frame with a discharge end above the lower part of said belt, means for coupling said conveyor belt to the driving motor and uncoupling it there- 1 from, a displaceable side partition of said hopper disposed above the belt and extending in the direction of travel of the belt, the bottom of the partition being immediately adjacent and parallel to the belt surface, a rail connected to said partition, and means journalled in the frame and operatively connected with the rail for adjusting the partition across the hopper and transversely of the belt to change the breadth of the hopper and the operative width of the belt whereby the belt width can be adjusted to the diameter of the coins to be counted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 279,953 Keeney June 26, 1883 705,778 McCabe July 29, 1902 1,280,950 Bernheim Oct. 8, 1918 1,582,820 Hungerford Apr. 27, 1926 2,479,667 Boylan Aug. 23, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,326 Great Britain Sept. 15, 1908 424,504 Great Britain Feb. 22, 1935 

